Well, here is the next part in all its glory! It's creepy, convoluted glory...! ...I think I actually got some of my friends to hate Deidara after this and The Incident, which was totally unintentional.

Reasons - The Setting

"Deidara, stop it…" she mumbled, begging. Well, she tried to, but with his mouth in the way it was more like, "Hmgmgm, hm gm…"

Michiko was frantic, pushing at his chest and failing to budge him. She had to stand there and let herself be kissed.

She felt sick, being so meek and tractable.

After a few minutes more he broke away, but she could tell he wasn't finished with her yet. After last night, why should he be? She tried to say something, call out, scream, gurgle, but before she could even draw a breath to speak he cupped his hand over her mouth.

"Shhhhhhhh," he whispered in her ear, nuzzling her neck with his face and lips. "We don't want anyone to hear us, now do we?"

Michiko sagged and shook her head slightly, wincing when the tongue slipped past her lips. There was no point in even trying to get anyone's attention. Belatedly she realized she could have screamed into Itachi's mind and woken him up… woken everybody up. But she really didn't want anyone to help, because they would see, and they would know. Especially not him.

He rubbed against her, and she moaned, bringing up her hands and trying perfunctorily to push him away, with the wall braced behind her. Again, and this time she felt a rippling shudder course through her as well, and she melted against him.

"You like that, do you?"

NO! she wanted to scream. NO! I don't! I want you to stop, and I want Itachi! Stop touching me!

But if she did he would stop, just like before, and ask her if she prefer he go and talk to Itachi. And she didn't want him to. It was blackmail of the worst kind.

Michiko slowly let her fangs protrude more and more before finally sinking them into his right tongue. He hardly even flinched, just pulled his hand away and looked at her with a funny yellow-green.

"Stop," she whispered between the ragged breaths she needed to talk. "Please, please stop…"

He seemed almost speculative, and she hoped, hoped, hoped he would stop. She was so tired, and her lips were bruised.

"Hm, no," he answered sardonically. "You still owe me, remember, yeah? I haven't told Itachi anything. Yet," he added.

Michiko lifted her head and stared at him. "If you don't stop, and you don't leave me alone, I will tell Itachi. I'll tell him all about how you took advantage of me, and how I had no choice, and how you hurt me," she told him quietly.

"Ah, well," he sighed flippantly. "It doesn't really matter to me, yeah. He can't kill me, so I'm fine. But you, you're fair game, especially for abandoning, and do you really want to hinge your survival on what type of mood he's in?"

Michiko hung her head. She was defeated, and he knew it. Either way she got the worst of it…

…That's right, she realized. Either way I get the worst of it, so why should it have to be this one? She had better options. And there was always a chance Itachi wouldn't skewer her.

"I… I'm going to tell him," she told him confidently. "I'm going to tell him. I'm going to tell him." And she left. Just like that.

It was so easy! She should have done this ages ago, before… Michiko shook her head and hit her temple, as if trying to dislodge the sickening memories clinging to the inside of her skull.

'Itachi? Itachi, where are you?'

She could hear him yawn mentally. 'Wha…? Wha's going on?'

She turned through the halls, walking it off until she reached their room. She liked the sound of that: their room. Not Deidara's room, but their room, where they were equals in ownership and free will. 'I just wanted to talk to you about something,' she explained evasively as she opened the door.

'Oh… Okay…'

Michiko swept over to the bed and slid in next to him, hugging him tightly. 'I missed you,' she muttered, clinging to him.

'So did I,' he responded in kind, kissing her gently. That was what a kiss was supposed be, not something with enough force to bruise. It still hurt her, though.

'Don't go away again,' she pleaded, kissing him back regardless of the pain.

'I'll have to sometime,' he muttered reluctantly, as if he wasn't too fond of the idea himself.

'Don't leave me alone with Deidara.' She froze; that wasn't how she had planned on broaching the subject.

Itachi paused. "Why?" he asked darkly. And then his tone changed completely, picking up speed as he realized more and more. 'Michiko, are you alright? Did he ...? Bastard, I shouldn't have been gone so long. I should've known something like this would happen sooner or later. I should've known he'd try something. I should've... Are you alright?' he asked tenderly. 'Because if you're not I…'

Michiko vaguely noticed that he had trailed off in the middle of his sentence, but she was too busy crying to care. She hadn't cried in years, since Osanai - in fact, she was sure Isuki had never seen her cry. She must have looked like such a callous, cold-hearted creature to her.

She hated crying. She hated herself for crying because it made her feel weak. But right now she was weak, and she just needed someone to tell her everything would be okay. She was so weak…

She felt his arms wrap around her, exuding comfort and support. Still crying, she clung to him with renewed fervor and pressed the side of her face to his warm, warm chest. His heart beat deeply in her ear, slowly, steadily, and it was so rhythmic… It began to put her in a drift, like a lullaby. When she lost her connection to any semblance of a conscious reality she heard him say something, but she didn't quite catch it. Still, she was satisfied with the feel of his lips by her ear, and she drifted with the knowledge that she wasn't alone.

Itachi was there, holding her close, and everything was good.

Isuki had debated silently over whether she should reveal the location of the base straight after she had the idea, or later, in the early morning, giving everyone who actually slept some chance to fade away entirely.

She was currently camping out in a large nest she had found a long time ago until the sun rose high enough for her arrival at the village not to be suspicious. She could tell it was one of Eris's because there were several of her odd, shimmering strands of hair and a scrap of that weird sigil-marked cloth that made up most of her clothes. Relaxing considerably, Isuki had rolled onto her back and stared up at the fading pink sky through the thick canopy above her.

Ha. You're nest is giving me comfort, you spiteful rhymes-with-witch!

Before she arrived she had flown several laps around the perimeter of the forest in an attempt to look as windblown and out of breath as possible, as if she had barely managed to escape something.

She dropped down to land inside the perimeter of the thick trees that edged the forest and ran out towards the village gate as fast as she could, stumbling on purpose as she tore down the path. Looking back, the mistake her mom had made was telling her not to go to the village, ever, instead of not alerting her to its existence.

Panting heavily and forcing tears to roll down her face - a handy trick she had learned from Maddie - she ran up to the nearest gate watchman and grabbed his forearm tightly.

"Let me in!" she sobbed, sounding perfectly panicked. "They're coming, and -"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down," he soothed, looking down at her. "What's wrong?"

"They're gonna get me!" she shrieked. "Let me in!"

The guard turned to his partner, who glanced at her briefly before nodding and pulling out his part of the gate bar. Her guard pulled his out, too, and ushered her in while the other remained vigilant outside the gate. He briefly explained what had happened to the guards of the inner gate and went back to his post, leaving her sobbing copiously in front of two new people.

The woman took charge, bending over and setting a hand on her shoulder.

Isuki flinched away from her frantically, staring at her wide-eyed. "I-I don't like to be touched…" she muttered, leaving a question hanging disturbingly over the guards' heads: why. She had planned this whole thing out the previous night; she needed an alibi, a reason for knowing where the base was.

"Okay then," the woman replied relatively kindly. "We'll just figure out what's happened and then we can let you in."

Isuki hadn't anticipated this.

Someone walked out through the inner gate, and suddenly the two guards with her stood up a little straighter. He looked like a ghost. And not just because of his oddly long, wispy black hair and his pale skin, but his clothes, too. His clothes were white, and his sleeves were overly long and wide. But what struck her most were his eyes, because they were pupil-less and a shade of lavender so light they were almost white, and they made him look blind. But the way he looked at her, she could tell that not only could he see, but see things no one else saw.

"Why haven't you let this girl in yet?" he asked them calmly. He barely sounded like he was admonishing them, but was instead merely curious. It seemed like it would be almost impossible for him to sound upset with his airy, melodious voice.

"Well," the man began, sounding flustered, "we just got her past the main gate, and we still need to examine her…"

"She's not in disguise, if that's what you're wondering," he murmured, not taking his eyes off her. "There's something odd about the structure off her back, but other than that she's a normal child in need of help."

Her wings! He could see her wings pulled in beneath the first layer of skin on her back!

"I was just going to go walking, anyway, so I'll take you where you need to go, okay?"

His voice startled her out of her shock, and she nodded dumbly, renewing the stream of tears trickling down her face. He offered her his hand, but she shook her head violently and started to walk toward the gate. It opened by the time she reached it, and the ghost man easily caught up with her.

She looked around in awe, and she didn't need to fake it; she had never seen so many people at once. Everything was so colorful, and everyone was moving, and they seemed so crowded.

"There are so many people," she muttered, looking up at the man curiously. "Do you ever lose any of them?"

"What, do you mean like they go missing, or go rogue?"

"Either," she replied shortly.

"Yes, sadly. Last time we had someone go rogue was… almost 15 years ago, if I remember right. And I always do. That was when Sasuke Uchiha became a missing-nin."

Isuki tensed slightly upon hearing his name; obviously they were related somehow.

"And a few months before that Michiko Kattonodoki actually went missing. She's dead, apparently, because when Sasuke's older brother stopped by for a very surprise visit a month after he said they had kidnapped her and extracted her demon, which killed her. Sasuke wasn't quite right after that…"

And she is dead, just not in the way they think…

"And several years earlier Sasuke's brother, Itachi, had killed the entire Uchiha clan and become a missing-nin. Those are the most significant losses we've suffered within the last decade."

I have an uncle? Isuki thought slowly. And nobody told me?

"So why are you really here?" he asked shrewdly, startling her.

"I was trying to forget," she mumbled, looking down at her feet as they walked. "Because I finally got away from them."

"Who?" he asked gently.

She let her eyes begin to tear up again. "The evil people. The ones who… who t-t-touched me, and made me touch them…"

He pulled this disgusted face, which let her know it was working, and asked again, "Who?"

"I don't know. I think they were… Akatsuki, or something? They mentioned that name a few times."

Ghost man slowed considerably, probably surprised to hear that name at all. "I'm going to have you talk to someone, okay? Someone I know who can help."

"Okay…"

After continuing at a faster pace down the streets, they eventually arrived at a tall, circular building and braved the winding stairs up to a corridor dotted with doors. He entered one without knocking and beckoned for her to follow.

There was a middle-aged man there, and as far she was concerned it looked like his silver hair had spent far too much time in a wind tunnel. "Hey, Neji. What's this?" he asked blandly, gesturing to her with one hand, his face resting on the other.

"Not 'what', Kakashi: 'who'. And she is potentially the key to exterminating the wasp nest more commonly know as the Akatsuki base." The ghost named Neji turned to her. "Tell him your name."

Kakashi was now sitting up more attentively, staring politely at her.

"Isuki…" she muttered, scuffing her shoe on the carpet. Last name would not be so good at this point.

"Nice to meet you, Isuki. I'm -"

"Kakashi," they finished at the same time. He blinked at her, waving to Neji that he could go.

"You know, I'm having the strangest feeling of déjà vu right now…" He shook his head. "Never mind. What do you know about the Akatsuki?"

"…I've been their slave for as long as I can remember…" True enough; she certainly didn't get enough respect.

"Really? What village are you from?"

"I don't know; I never really knew my parents…" True enough; she didn't really know them.

"Interesting. What did you do at their HQ?"

"…Not much by myself. When they felt like it they played with me." A complete fabrication, but sacrifices must be made.

Kakashi winced and looked at her like he wanted to hug her and tell her she'd be okay but was afraid she'd freak out. "Well you'll be okay now. I -"

"West," she blurted. "About four hours west, as the crow flies."

"Right." He got up from behind his desk and arched his back. "Oh, I really hate this job," he told her conspiratorially. "I swear I spend half of my life behind this desk now. Now, stay here. I'll send someone to take care of you, but right now I have to get word out that we know where their base is, okay?"

"…But I wanted to go get some ice cream and honey…" she whined sadly. "They always told me it tasted delicious, but I never got to try any. I always just got painted with it and then -"

Kakashi shuddered and caved. "Alright. Here, I'll give you some money for ice cream and honey, but you have to come right back here, okay?"

"Okay," she lied through her teeth. "I'll come right back here." She smiled at him until he left, and then she stuffed the money in her pocket and took off, bumping into some weird guy in a funny hat. When she looked up at him she noticed he had lazy eyes, sort of like Sasori's, except not as pretty. He only called her "troublesome" before he walked away muttering, and she stared after him for a while curiously; he sounded like Zetsu, but he didn't talk back to himself.

Once she reached the outskirts of the village, where people walking along the wall were scarce, Isuki dug her claw-like fingernails into it and climbed up to the top, taking a moment to soak up the sun. The mere experiences she made up were enough to give her chills, and she needed to feel slightly normal again for a while.

Then she spread her red wine wings and dropped off the wall, shooting out into the forest and circling around a few times before stopping back at Eris's nest to wait out the few days it would likely take them to muster all the forces they would need to take out her family.

Itachi couldn't get out of bed.

Michiko was still heavily drifting, and her arms were hugging his neck, and he could not get out of bed.

He really didn't want to break her drift so he could move, because she looked like after what she'd been through she really needed to let everything wash off her mind…

The thought made his stomach clench. And his teeth. And his fists.

Sir Leader had told him ages ago that he was not allowed to kill any other members without his say-so. Not even Deidara. And he doubted that he would consider this an offense worthy of death. Otherwise the bastard would have already been dead with the minimal effort on Itachi's part, just like one can take care of one's problems with a small force inserted between two warring nations, or a kunai inserted between the third and fifth ribs. Still, even with that technique counted out he had plenty of options left.

After all; there are things so much worse than death.

Grinning, Itachi moved to get up when he remembered Michiko was still attached to him. He sighed, nearly resigned to his fate… when he suddenly got an idea. He turned over so he faced away from her, pushed himself up into a sitting position and leaned over so she was resting against his back, hooked his arms through the back of her knees, and stood up. That wasn't very complicated.

He still couldn't put a shirt on over her, with her forehead slumped on his shoulder, but it wasn't very cold anyway. Except, she was cold, but he had gotten used to that.

Through some clever maneuvering he managed to open the door, and he was out in the hall. Freedom! And Michiko was still asleep, too.

He figured it must have been around noon the sun was so bright, and he realized that he was starving. How would he eat with Michiko on his back? Who knew; he would cross that bridge when he came to it. Meanwhile he made his way to the kitchen.

On his way there he passed through the main hall, and there he found a useless blonde sack of pus sitting there, eating. He stood there a while, staring hatefully, waiting for him to notice.

When he did he shrunk back slightly, but briefly as well, and then returned with his own glare. His whole posture just said, "What?"

Itachi didn't dignify this with a response. He just waited, waited for him to move, waited for him to give him a reason. After a long silence, he snorted and muttered, "Bastard."

He was turning to go when he thought better of it and sparked the table Deidara was sitting at. It grew into a good sized fire quickly, enough so that he didn't have time to move away before it crawled off the table and onto his arm. He still didn't react, just staring at him smugly, like knew it was just an illusion and couldn't hurt him. He said so.

Itachi sighed, as if defeated, and took the illusion off, smirking.

Deidara's eye widened in shock and pain, and he looked surprised to see the fire still there, feeling it burn him.

Itachi smirked as he watched him stare, dumbfounded, or maybe just dumb, at the sight of the flaming black tendrils licking away his skin like a cat licking scraps of meat off a bone, the sound of crackling, the feel of its heat withering his arm, the smell of burning cloth and his own charred flesh, and the acrid taste of smoke in the air. He looked up at him curiously in a detached sort of way.

"Most people don't expect that, so don't feel too stupid," he reassured him smugly. "My starting a real fire and giving it the illusion of being fake."

Realization must have dawned on him violently; Itachi was able to savor the look of pure terror on his face only briefly before he was gone, probably to find water.

Itachi laughed, stopping when Michiko groaned and stirred slightly. Most people didn't expect that, either; when he made a real crappy illusion, then explained how it was real after he had improved it, not realizing it was just an illusion after all.

For now, at least, his revenge was complete.

He jumped when something heavy slammed into the door.